BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Do you remember when Roy Williams didn't have white hair?

Me, neither, but at that early point in his Hall of Fame career, he must've looked and sounded a lot like Jerod Haase.

With a different accent.

Williams is from North Carolina. Haase is a Califor­nian.

Inflection aside, the new UAB coach looked and sounded a lot like his men­tor during his introductory press conference Tuesday at Bartow Arena.

Did he talk about spitting in the Mississippi River twice last week in St. Louis, for luck, both in the Mid­west Regional and at his new job at UAB? Check.

Did he get so emotional that he choked up and al­most broke down twice, when talking about his wife, Mindy, and again when talk­ing about Williams? Check.

Ol' Roy would've been proud. If he'd been here, he'd no doubt have been in tears.

UAB AD Brian Mackin spent a lot of time in the last two weeks talking to Wil­liams about Haase, who was one of six candidates inter­viewed, assistants and head coaches among them. Mackin said he wanted more than the usual plati­tudes and told Williams that. In response, Mackin said, Williams told him, "You'll spend more time worrying about what to have for lunch tomorrow than you will worrying about the answers to your questions."

In short, don't worry. You've got the right man.

I knew from the start of the search that Mackin wanted to hire the basketball equivalent of Garrick McGee. The AD wanted a quality assistant from a quality program.

Mission accomplished. Again.

UAB interviewed Haase in Tallahassee, where Mackin was working as a member of the Division I Women's Basketball Committee, that first weekend after Mike Davis was fired.

"We started with him," Mackin said, "and he was the standard we measured everyone against."

The more Mackin talked Tuesday, during and after the press conference, the more it hit me. Forget finding the roundball version of UAB's new football coach. Mackin must feel like he just hired Roy Williams Jr. Right?

"I hired a great coach," Mackin said. "I think he will establish his own name, his own way, but he's been tutored and mentored by one of the best."

Kevin Scarbinsky is a columnist for The Birmingham News. His column is published on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

There's no question that Haase has the bloodlines, but as with any assistant moving up, there are questions about his ability to take what he's learned from one of the best bosses in the business and apply it at anywhere close to that level.

Haase himself uttered one of the most honest statements you'll ever hear at a feel-good function like Tuesday's press conference. As he thanked UAB President Carol Garrison for the opportunity, he said, "It's a tremendous leap of faith."

It is, in part, because Haase has landed on a different planet in the basketball solar system.

He doesn't have ties to this football state. Haase said his game experience here starts with the 1997 Sweet 16 loss to Arizona at the BJCC in his final college game at Kansas and ends with North Carolina's third-round NIT win at Bartow Arena two years ago.

Great atmosphere that night, Haase remembered. It's now his job to re-create it when the Tar Heels aren't in town.

Mackin didn't blink at the implication that it'll be tougher for an outsider to succeed here.

"Coach Gene Bartow had no idea who anybody in this state was when he was hired at UAB," Mackin said. "I think it can be done."

Wait. What? Did Mackin just compare Jerod Haase to Gene Bartow?

"I'm comparing him to someone coming in from the outside not knowing the community," Mackin said. "I view it very different. A person that has all the qualities I was looking for can be placed into any situation, if they hold true to those values, and be successful. We've got someone that has those qualities."

If you were going to draw up a blueprint for a first-time head coach, the final picture would look a lot like Jerod Haase.

He knows what a winning program looks like from the inside. So does UAB.